Leica is a brand that many people might be familiar with when it comes to cameras. The company has kind of dipped its toes into the water in the mobile industry by teaming up with the likes of Huawei, but it seems that the company has decided to jump in with both feet by launching their own smartphone – the Leica Leitz Phone 1.

This is the first Leica-branded smartphone, but before you get too excited, in reality it’s simply a rebadged Sharp Aquos R6. The company was actually not particularly shy about announcing this fact, but maybe they were trying to build confidence in customers by suggesting this is a phone they’re already familiar with and thus one they can trust.

The main difference is that the Leitz Phone 1 will offer up what the company claims is a “true Leica experience” in terms of design and also its UI. The phone will feature a matte glass back cover and a massive single 1-inch 20MP sensor with an f/1.9 lens. There will also be a 12.6MP front-facing camera, a 6.6-inch IGZO OLED display, a 2730×1260 resolution and a 240Hz variable refresh rate.

We’re also looking at hardware like the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset, 12GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and a 5,000mAh battery. That being said, despite it being a rebadged Sharp phone, it will not come cheap. It is priced at around $1,700 and for now, it seems to be exclusive to Softbank Japan and we have no idea if or when it will be released in other markets.

Source: Softbank Japan